Note to MLB it's 2010

Tim Barnum

Posted 6/17/10

Well, Jim Joyce, aren’t you the

popular one?

That was sarcasm.

Replay shows that Galarraga clearly covered the bag in time, caught the throw from Miguel Cabrera in time, and should have immediately started a once-in-a-lifetime celebration with his teammates, coach and thousands of fans. Instead, Galarraga threw a complete game, one-hit shutout. Not too shabby, unless you consider that he was perfect through 8 2/3 innings and

clearly got the final out in a perfect game!

In MLB coach and player circles, Joyce is highly regarded, and usually ranked as one of the best umps in the league. After seeing the replay, he was very hard on himself, admitting he took a perfect game away from Galarraga.

In a classy move, he went to the clubhouse and personally apologized to Galarraga, who mostly laughed off the incident. Isn’t that strange? Joyce realized the mistake after he saw the replay.

Wow, imagine that. The replay camera would’ve slowed things

down, and allowed the umpires to check the call, and get it right. Who

would’ve known? Instead of hearing about all this controversy and instead of beating a dead horse, the umpires could’ve went under a hood, much like in football, and overturned the call in a matter of seconds. Cue the baseball purists: BUT THAT WOULD SLOW THE GAME

DOWN!

Excuse me one second, hahahahaha. Slowing baseball down … that’s like saying putting a log in the way of a turtle crawling to a pond is going to disrupt the time-space continuum. It doesn’t matter. Baseball is a slow sport. Batters call time and pitchers step off the mound. Managers change pitchers four times a game, and the guys from the bullpen take five minutes to warm up on the “real” mound after they had already been throwing for two innings.

Plus, if you’re trying to tell me that looking at a replay takes longer than chest-bumping and dirt-kicking withJim Leyland, well, you’re wrong. And actually, I feel bad for Jim Joyce.

He will always be known as “that guy.” You know, “that guy” who

cost a pitcher a perfect game.He was nearly in tears after he realized the mistake. I also feel bad for Galarraga, obviously. This is a pitcher who just weeks ago was in the minors trying to work his way back into the starting rotation.

I also feel bad for Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson. Jackson ran down a ball in the outfield that forced him to sprint about 50 yards to makea tough over-the-shoulder catch.

His catch was the first out in the ninth inning, and would’ve been the tokenamazing play that allowed for the perfect game. Plus, you’ve got to feel bad for Tigers baseball fans (of which I am

one), and Detroit fans in general.

When will something good happen to

us? Just think about it. About 20 seconds looking at even the big screen at Comerica Park could’ve allowed the right call to be made. Instead, we get an umpire controversy.

So Commissioner Bud Selig should do the right thing — allow

instant replay to be used for all calls besides balls and strikes, and even exclude safe or out calls during steals.

And if the purists complain, who cares?

They complained about the wild card round in the playoffs.

They complained about interleague play. They complained about “Spider-Man” movie logos on the bags for erroneous advertising.

They’d probably complain if the baselines were chalked a half-inch wider than they currently are.

They complain when a team moves out of an asbestos-infected crumbling wasteland of a stadium to a newer,

nicer, cleaner, bigger stadium. It’s time to put getting things right

over everything else.

Sure the umpires aren’t going to like it, but if

you ask Jim Joyce right now, I bet he could tolerate instant replay in baseball.